Electromechanical brake (“EMB”) systems are attracting increasing interest for use in and with motorized vehicles. EMB systems and/or associated architecture systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,900 entitled Multi-Module Control-By-Wire Architecture issued Jul. 23, 2002 and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,991 entitled Electric Caliper Hardware Topologies for a Safety System issued Jan. 17, 2003. The entire contents of both of these patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference. Because such electromechanical brake systems rely exclusively upon electromechanical systems to control the brakes, the electromechanical system must include significant redundancies and backups. For example, electromechanical brake systems may have a controller associated with each brake subsystem located at the corner of the vehicle. It may be desired to have each corner controller carry out the full range of processing tasks associated with the associated brake subsystem, as well as each of the other brake subsystems. Each corner controller may also carry out higher-level braking or control tasks.
However, this type of arrangement requires relatively high computing power and through-put, and therefore requires four relatively expensive corner controllers. One or more central controllers may also be provided at the brake pedal to communicate driver pedal input to the brake control system over a data bus. Accordingly, there is a need for a control system for brakes which requires relatively low computing power and therefore has a relatively low cost, yet provides sufficient computing power and redundancies.